New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-07-20

a d3'Ul9k1c UeSc1.t1 9tGO1I OF lt-S1LT-
grounded bv a DesOlate Country
- Shook Mor,,issg Of Desc
IGtiOa- Death and Disaster
Dumb 18th Terror.
A NewYor Herald special fromEl Pa
50 says: II have just returned from the
scene Of the only active volcano in North
America. Tie volcano lies twelve
miles, as the crow flies from Bavispe in
the state of Sonora, in the extreme
northwest corner Of Mexico. A rough
estimate will place the distance from Ell
Paso at 400 miles, calculating on q bee
line. The rugged. and desolate natureof
the country, the infrequency fits springs
and the almost deadly heat that exists
there nine months out Of twelve have
effectually kept out the American pros
pector; although the mountains are full
of gold, and even the hardy Mexican
has largely left it to its primal solitude.
Here and there are scattered villages of
which Bavispe is q type. 1t contains
about two thousand five hundred souls,
if you count soul to each inhabitant.
They are SO miserably poor and live in
condition of such Understandable squat
or aud perpetual misery that their lot
compares unfavorably with the wander.
ing coyote, their nearest neighbor. We
went by way of the Carralitos hacienda
on the Britton Davis ranch, lying about
due east of Bavispe, in the state of
Chihuahua. 1t was FROM this point
that the real journey commenced. To
conceive the fatigue and ardor of the
trip one must add blazing sun that
scared and shriveled the very granite,
a parched and alkali laden wind blow
ing at midday, and filling the throat
with its smarting particles and reflec-
ton from the earth that was like the
breath of a furnace. The eighth day
brought the explorers into the vicinity
of Bavispe, but little prior to this we
had the first intimation of cosmic dis.
turbance in the shape of futtering
tremor of the earth. The shocks, which
were Slight and undulating, increased
in frequency as we drew near the town.
On the lst of last May just at the gray
of dawn the villagers were awakened
by sickening shudder of the earth,
followed by quick tremor thatreduced
half of the abodes of the place to ruins.
Since that morning of desolation and
terror there has been no day unaccom-
panied by an earthquake. Sometimes
it has been so violent as to loosen mas
ses of rock and open vast assures in the
mountain side, and sometimes it is an
almost imperceptible vibration, but new
er has it entirely ceased, ..nd the super
stitious Mexicans have given themselves
up to the apathy of despair. Our ap-
pearance, which in other times would
have convulsed the village with excite
ment, scarcely attracted attention. A
few half-naked men and haggard wo.
men struggled out Of their tenements
OF brush to meet us, but many merely
glanced from their open doorways and
made no signs. The town. or rather
what was the town. looks like the brok-
en- toy village of child. There is not
house left standing. Shattered heaps
of adobes and yawning holes mark the
site, and mingled in the ruin are the few
utensils of their domestic life, for which
a superstitious terror forbade them to
retu n. Many have gone toward the
south, but the bulk of the people are far
too poor to undertake a journey, which
without resources, means death, and so
they have camped within sight of the
wreck of their homes in mute and pa.
thetic hopelessness. The mortality
which attended this disaster must have
been great but it was almost impossible
to draw any of them into conversation,
and quite SO. to obtain any accurate in
formation. Over TWENTY sunken places
marked recent graves. and as many
more dead are probably lying in
the ruins. From Bavispe we had
our first sight of our objective
point, the volcano. A penant of smoke,
trailed by the wind from low, square
topped peak to the southeast defined its
location, while q dull and muttering
roar, almost incessant, told that the
forces of nature were at work. The
volcano lies about twenty miles from
the site of the town, but over such an
extraordinary broken tract of country
that we realized at once chat we should
require two days journy to reach it,
and pushed straight ahead without
delay. The phenomena which we had
observed at Bavispe increased in volume
as we approached the mountain. We
followed the dry bed of stream, which
at some forgotten period had worn a
causeway through the granite. It was
broken by assures of evident recent ORR
gin, running from north to south, and
in some cases four or five feet broad,
and of unknown depth. Springing from
one of these about four miles out, we
encountered geyser rivaling any of
those in the National Park. It is in the
center of circular basin with side of
sand and mud and about forty feet in
diameter. At intervals of fifteen min
utes an immense stream of boiling wa
ter leaps out up to height Of, I should
Judge, sixty feet. The geyser spouts
for four or five minutes and then sub
sides as quickly as it came. disappear
ing with q mutter that reverberates far
down into the bowels Of the troubled
earth.